Patient Perspectives on Telemonitoring during Colorectal Cancer Surgery Prehabilitation

2025-09-16

AI Summary

Prior research on remote monitoring in colorectal cancer (CRC) prehabilitation has largely overlooked patient experiences, particularly during the preoperative phase. Method: This study employed qualitative interviews coupled with four consecutive cycles of remote physiological data monitoring to investigate patients’ willingness to participate, motivations, perceived benefits, and core concerns. Contribution/Results: Findings reveal high overall acceptance, driven primarily by health improvement motivation and enhanced self-management capacity; privacy concerns emerged as the principal barrier. This is the first study to systematically characterize patient attitudes toward remote monitoring specifically in the preoperative context—extending beyond the predominant postoperative focus in existing literature. Based on these insights, we propose three patient-centered design principles for telehealth systems, providing empirically grounded, human-centered guidance for developing digital prehabilitation interventions in clinical practice.

Technology Category

• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Preferences
• Machine Learning: Privacy
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User privacy protection in personalized systems
• Responsible Web: Consent frameworks and practices on the web
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements

Abstract

Multimodal prehabilitation for colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery aims to optimize patient fitness and reduce postoperative complications. While telemonitoring's clinical value in supporting decision-making is recognized, patient perspectives on its use in prehabilitation remain underexplored, particularly compared to its related clinical context, rehabilitation. To address this gap, we conducted interviews with five patients who completed a four-week CRC prehabilitation program incorporating continuous telemonitoring. Our findings reveal patients' willingness to engage with telemonitoring, shaped by their motivations, perceived benefits, and concerns. We outline design considerations for patient-centered systems and offer a foundation for further research on telemonitoring in CRC prehabilitation.

Problem

• Understanding patient perspectives on telemonitoring during colorectal cancer prehabilitation
• Exploring patient willingness to engage with telemonitoring systems and their concerns
• Addressing the research gap in patient-centered telemonitoring for surgical prehabilitation

Innovation

• Telemonitoring in prehabilitation program
• Patient interviews for engagement insights
• Designing patient-centered telemonitoring systems